In an emergency or like incident, public safety (PS) personnel, such as police officers, firefighters, paramedics, emergency medical service technicians, disaster relief workers, military rescue personnel, and like first responders, are typically dispatched by an operator at a computer aided dispatch (CAD) center to an incident scene to respond to remedy the emergency. These PS personnel typically utilize and operate PS communication devices, both handheld and vehicle-portable, while working in the field. PS communication devices include, for example, land mobile radios (LMRs), such as handheld radios and/or vehicular radios, along with built-in and remote accessories, such as global positioning satellite (GPS) sensors, microphones, speakers, earpieces, headsets, radio frequency (RF) transceivers, and the like, to support wireless, two-way, voice and data communications. These primary, mission-critical PS devices and the infrastructure to support their operation are typically operated by a PS server as part of a private, secure, and protected, proprietary PS network governed by a PS agency, e.g., a local government or department.
As advantageous as the known PS networks have been, there are circumstances where a more expedited and effective response strategy to the incident is needed. For example, it is known to display the last location of a PS device, typically with a radio icon, on a geographic information system (GIS) map that is displayed on a computer screen being viewed by the CAD center operator based on a GPS signal received from a GPS sensor on the PS device. It is also known to display a timestamp indicative of the last time that the GPS signal was received for the last displayed last location. The operator typically uses this information about the last location and the last time in order to dispatch a PS person, typically the nearest PS person, to the incident in the shortest time and by the most direct route. The operator may also use this information to locate a PS person, especially where the PS person has signaled that he or she is in need of assistance, and to send additional PS personnel to provide the assistance.
However, this location and time information may not accurately reflect the true current location of the PS device. The PS person may have gone in a venue indoors with the PS device, in which case the GPS signals may be at least partially and/or temporarily blocked. The PS person may be outdoors, but in an area in which the GPS signals may again be at least partially and/or temporarily blocked, e.g., by tall buildings. The CAD operator normally assumes that the displayed last location is accurate and up-to-date. However, in reality, the displayed last location is only accurate as of the last time that the GPS signal was received. Lack of true, up-to-date location information will eventually cause the CAD operator to lose confidence in the reliability and accuracy of the displayed last location and, as a result, will slow the determination of an effective response strategy to the incident and/or will slow any requested assistance.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system and method that will alleviate the aforementioned problems and enable a more expedited and more effective incident response strategy and/or assistance by giving the CAD operator an indication of the reliability of the displayed last location.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and locations of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The method and system components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.